Rupture of the Diaphragm 82 1 



5. Rupture of the Diaphragm. 



It has been claimed that rupture of the diaphragm occurs rarely 

 as a complication or accident of parturition, in some cases of 

 dropsy of the amnion or allantois, or from other causes which 

 may induce extraordinary weight or volume of the gravid uterus. 

 The few cases which are recorded are not very significant, and 

 exhibit no definite symptoms by which the accident is to be 

 diagnosed. 



The diagnosis has been made post-mortem. It is quite possi- 

 ble that some of the cases diagnosed as rupture of the diaphragm 

 as a parturient accident may have been post-mortem lesions, such 

 as frequently occur an hour or two after death . 



7. Rupture of the Sacro-Sciatic I,igaments. 



Fleming cites one case of rupture of the sacro-sciatic ligaments 

 in the mare, during the expulsion of the fetus, but the symptoms 

 which he relates are very vague in so far as establishing the 

 character of the alleged injury is concerned. A filly was un- 

 able to rise after parturition, and an examination led the attend- 

 ing veterinarian, Naylor, to conclude that the sacro-sciatic 

 ligament had been ruptured. We fail to see how a rupture of 

 the sacro-sciatic ligaments could prevent an animal from rising 

 or standing, or why the rupture should have caused an extreme 

 atrophy of the muscles of the affected hip, as was recorded in 

 this case. The symptoms recorded point rather to an injury of 

 the gluteal nerves, to which we shall refer later. 



8. Prolapse of the Intestine through the 



Ruptured Walls of the Uterus 

 or Vagina. 



When a perforating wound or rupture of the walls of the uterus 

 or vagina occurs at any point, it is possible for a protrusion of 

 the intestines to follow. This prolapse, however, does not ordi- 

 narily follow when a wound is made through the walls of the 

 vagina or uterus in the non-pregnant animal. The prolapse is 

 probable only in those cases where there is violent straining, as 

 seen in parturition or immediately following it. In spaying the 

 mare or cow through the vagina, though the veterinarian habitu- 

 ally makes a more or less extensive wound, large enough in the 

 mare to admit the entire hand, there, is virtually no danger of 



